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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I think the gift that I was most excited to give was the one that I made for Charlotte. I got the idea and tutorials from a great blog, Twelve Crafts till Christmas. It's a baby doll play set with a bassinet and diaper bag filled with diapers, wipes, changing pad, and taggie blanket. Here are links to each of the tutorials: Bassinet Part 1 and Part 2, and diaper bag/accessories It's a hit with Charlotte! My mother-in-law has stated that Charlotte's favorite part is taking the wipes out (every single one) and wiping her baby. The directions are really very good and I didn't have any trouble following them. I only cussed a little bit while putting the bassinet together as it's a little tricky to put the lining in. Here are a few pictures of the finished products:

The outside of the bassinet. I love the pom-poms!

Inside of the bassinet with a baby

Outside the diaper bag (ribbon strap because I was getting tired)

Inside the diaper bag

Accessories (diaper, wipes, and taggie)

Changing the stinky baby

All decked out in the owl dress made by Mommy, new puppy slippers, and her new bassinet and diaper bag. She didn't have enough to carry so she took Lily's diaper bag too! Sorry that she's not smiling but she really is happy!

I also made a reversible dress for Lily using the Children's corner William and Winnie pattern. My friend, Amanda, did the embroidery for me (thanks, Amanda!). I had fun making this dress and it went together very easily. I hope that Lily will enjoy wearing it this year!

I also put together a fun hooded towel for Lily and had hoped to add it as my first tutorial but I had to fudge the hood part to make it look right. Hope to add pictures of that soon. I forgot to take pictures so I'm waiting on a quick snap from Michelle. The elephant turned out really well so I'd say it was a successful project but next time, I want a pattern!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My mother-in-law and Dad have complained that I haven't updated my blog in over a month. So, I thought that I better get to it now that the major holiday push has died down. I've been sewing and baking and wrapping the last month!

Here are a few of the homemade gifts that I gave this year:

I got the idea to make Homemade Vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, and vanilla pecans from my friend, Carrie, who got the recipes and awesome labels from this website. I didn't realize until I had already made all of my pecans that the labels are for Almonds. I tried for about 45 minutes to try to change the labels but got grumpy and made my own. They're not as cute as the originals but they look like they go along with the other labels fairly well, I suppose. :) I highly recommend making some of the vanilla to give as gifts next year!

My poor little boy is always complaining that I never sew anything for him so I challenged myself to make something for him this year. I went with a safe option first, pajamas. The pants are fleece and I used a t-shirt that we already owned, just added an "A" appliqué and a few abstract appliqués because the A was crooked to add interest.

I branched out a little bit on the next thing for Alexander but this is something anyone with pretty basic sewing skills could conquer. I made him a Superman hooded towel. Both kids love hooded towels, we had two, a duck and an elephant so I knew that he would be pleased with a more grown-up version. I got some basic instructions for putting on the hood online here. To add the "S" on the back, I searched online for the outline of the shape and found lots of options. I copied one like this into word and sized it as big as I could to make it fit on one printed page. Then, I traced it onto some yellow felt and sewed it on the towel using black thread. I went over each line with a tight zigzag stitch, like a small satin stitch, so that the black would be accented and wouldn't fade when I washed the towel. Alexander loves it and has used it quite a bit since Christmas.

I got a wild hair one day after going to a friend's fair trade purchasing party. Someone had made purses using felted sweaters and I just knew that I could do the same! So, I went over to the goodwill outlet store and braved the bins of dirty junk. I found several sweaters and I brought them home to wash and dry. And wash and dry. And wash and dry. And wash and dry. Yes, it took several wash/dry cycles to get them to shrink to the size/shape that I wanted. Then, I just decided on a shape and cut it out. I added a lining and a cute button closure. My mother-in-law, Irene, is the proud recipient of this little bag. I had to make something cute for her since she always comes up with great ideas for me.
The outside of the bag and the inside of the bag. I'm not sure why it looks so wonky in the first picture because it's not quite that extreme. I did make up the pattern but I think I can sew a straight line fairly well by now.

About Me

First, I'm a wife to my awesome hubby, Peter, who is, by far, the best man on earth. I'm a mom of four, two on earth and two in heaven. In my spare time I love sewing, cooking, and creating craft projects, both with my kids and on my own. So, you ask, why this blog? Why not this blog? We have friends and family all over the world, it's a cheap and easy way to keep everyone updated on the VERY exciting happenings in our household. I'd like to post daily but many times it ends up monthly. Don't give up, I will post again!

"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances."